The pressure-temperature phase diagram of a chiral liquid crystal polyacrylate has
been studied in situ by X-ray diffraction. Hydrostatic pressures of the order of
100–200 MPa strongly influence the polymorphic behaviour of the sample. The smectic
A* mesophase, which at ambient pressure coexists with an interdigitated smectic C*
structure, is stabilized over a temperature range which increases with pressure. The
formation of the smectic C* phase is inhibited at 220 MPa and occurs only upon the
first heating process at 133 MPa. A transition sequence from the isotropic melt
through the smectic A* phase to a new crystalline structure is found by cooling
isobarically down to room temperature. The proposed phase diagram suggests the
occurrence of peculiar disorder-order-disorder transitions as pressure is reduced
isothermally.

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